Kenyan special forces police arrive in Haiti to help the country fight its armed gangs.
Mentor David Lorens / EPA
There is a long, and often ugly, history of foreign intervention in Haiti.
Much of Haiti is in the control of armed gang leaders such as Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier.
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Kenya’s William Ruto will meet President Joe Biden during a rare US state visit from an African leader − and one that comes as Haiti’s crisis spirals.
People protest against the conflict in eastern DRC during an African Union assembly in Addis Ababa on 17 February 2024.
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Protests in Kinshasa are an indictment of the lack of attention to the Congolese crisis.
Taryn Hagerman/ US Army
South Africa’s defence force has been in decline for some time as its budget has shrunk while its duties have changed.
Kenyan soldiers from the East African Community Regional Force leave the Democratic Republic of Congo on 3 December 2023.
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Chances of longer term peace are small because of the DRC’s assumption that it can achieve peace through sheer military force.
Residents of Bambo in North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, flee after M23 attacks in October 2023.
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The international effort to address three decades of violence in eastern DRC has drawn in the UN, east African troops and now a southern African force.
People displaced by gang violence shelter at a gymnasium in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in August 2023.
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The security situation in Haiti must change – but another UN intervention may not be the way this happens.
A soldier guards a camp in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in January 2023.
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Central to the DRC’s politics is a broken relationship between the seat of government in Kinshasa and underrepresented groups in the eastern region.
Haitian authorities are fighting a losing battle against organized gangs.
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The recent kidnapping of a US nurse has put a focus on the plight of Haitians living with organized crime every day. But few governments are willing to intervene.
Malians march against the UN peacekeeping force in Bamako in September 2022.
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Constructive dialogue is an essential condition for a peaceful political transition in Mali.
Malians demonstrate against the presence of foreign troops.
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The transitional government is determined to change its partners to fight insecurity in Mali – but results will be hard to come by.
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An agreement to end conflict is only one small step in an often long process.
South Sudanese soldiers prepare for deployment to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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The region’s forces are seen as important in addressing the long-running conflict in the DRC – but their involvement is complicated.
Kenyan troops fly the flags of the East African Community and Kenya in Goma, eastern DRC.
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There are advantages to a regional force overseen by the East African Community – particularly as the bloc is leading new political talks.
Troops drive through Goma in eastern DRC in November 2022.
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Consolidating peace efforts across the vast territory has proved difficult for close to three decades. Scholars explain why.
Dan Stoenescu, head of the EU delegation for Syria, during a visit to the territories controlled by the Damascus regime on 8 August 2022.
Dan Stoenescu/Facebook
In the name of contributing to the reconstruction of Syria, is the EU rehabilitating Bashar Al-Assad?
Men hold up protest signs in front of the coffins of DRC refugees killed in August 2004 in Gatumba, Burundi.
Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images
Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo is used to win a place in government, not to overthrow it. And it keeps working.
People walk on the road near Kibumba, north of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, as they flee fighting between Congolese forces and M23 rebels in May 2022.
(AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Canada is connected to the Democratic Republic of Congo through the global economy, international peacekeeping efforts and migration. We must not ignore violence because it’s far away.
A UN peacekeeper on patrol as a resident gathers wood in the Beni region of eastern DRC in 2014.
UN Photo/Sylvain Liechti
DRC has the highest number of allegations of sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers – yet no systematic research on the claims of their abandoned children has existed until now.
A UN peacekeeper watches the Syrian town of Quneitra from Israel in 2014,
EPA/ATEF SAFADI
UN peacebuilding missions require much cooperation and negotiation.